A New Bishop

I had a wonderful Thursday evening walking the Provo temple grounds with the new leadership of a BYU singles ward—my dad being the new bishop.

However, when I first heard that he was called as a new bishop I was so nervous for him. See, my dad and I have similar personality types. We are not exactly introverts, but I think we are both a little shy, like to mostly keep to ourselves, and are really good at listening, but not so good at making conversation. At first I thought he would really struggle with this new calling—all that interviewing and public speaking.

Then, the more I thought about it, the more I could see how this Bishoprichood really suited him. Once when I was visiting the house he pulled me aside and showed me this new program he had on his iPad that let him create bios of each of the students in his ward. He scrolled through and showed me how he could add their picture here and insert there interests there. “This girl loves to sing,” slide of the finger, “and this guy plays on the football team.” He knows how to take interest and get to know the details about a person, and that is so important in being a bishop.

Now I think my dad is really excited to be the father of the ward and I know the ward is so lucky to have him as bishop because he is the best dad. He supports you, lifts you, really listens, and is pretty cool with his longboard and converse. So, I am no longer nervous for him. Mostly I am excited to see where this will lead.

Well, back to Thursday. My dad planned a temple trip with the new leadership and wanted to take some pictures of all of them before the session. The photographer they were originally going to use had to bail out, so he called me. I’m so glad he did. However, from a photographer's standpoint, in all of my photos the temple in the back was overexposed, while the people in the front were in constant shadow. I have done some tweaking on these photos, and am glad my dad is a photoshop expert, beacuse he can make them perfect.

I love walking the temple grounds and taking photographs. There is such a feeling of peace and holiness surrounding the temples, especially one that is mostly used by students and missionaries. Also, I love architecture—all kinds of architecture. There is something about the symmetry of a temple that just draws me in and captivates my interest.

It was the perfect way to end the Thursday and I am looking forward to more events just like it.